Instilling Public Service Values and Professionalism through Information Literacy

Abstract

In order for public affairs and administration education programs to successfully prepare future public administrators, the link between public service values (PSVs), professionalism in the public sector, and information literacy (IL) needs to be acknowledged and elevated. Through the development of a Communications for Public Administrators course focused on IL with a public service perspective, the Master of Public Administration (MPA) program at West Chester University (WCU) is attempting to do just that. This article considers separately the role of PSVs, professionalism, and IL in the study and practice of public administration and discusses the rationale for linking the three concepts in public affairs and administration education programs. Recommendations for the institutionalization of the PSVs-professionalism-IL nexus are also considered. The article then describes a specific WCU MPA course used to explore the efficacy of integrating PSVs, professionalism, and IL into a graduate public affairs curriculum. The benefits of this approach and its applicability to other public administration, public policy, and public affairs graduate programs are discussed.